Nuveen Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 773,483 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 100,340 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 1.32% of OceanFirst Financial worth $14,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of OCFC. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,566,000 after buying an additional 34,458 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 6,001.3% in the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,152 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 9,002 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 133,122 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 6,444 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 94,274 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $575,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on OCFC shares. Hovde Group lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.0%

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $16.62 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $16.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $970.34 million, a P/E ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.99. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a twelve month low of $14.03 and a twelve month high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. The company had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.66 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. On average, analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.81%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.29%.

About OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for OceanFirst Bank N.A. that provides community banking services to retail and commercial customers. It accepts money market accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, non-interest-bearing accounts, and time deposits, that includes brokered deposits to retail, government, and business customers.